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American University of Beirut

 
Hoover's Company Profiles:

American University of Beirut

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Contact Information
American University of Beirut
Riad El-Solh
Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon
Tel. +961-1-340-460

Type: School
On the web: http://www.aub.edu.lb

American University of Beirut (AUB) provides undergraduate, graduate, and professional academic programs in the American liberal arts tradition. The university has more than 7,500 students who study subjects such as agriculture and food science, engineering and architecture, medicine, nursing, and business. AUB also hosts a dozen research centers devoted to subjects including ecosystem management, behavioral research, and American studies. Most classes are taught in English. Adjoining AUB's campus is the 420-bed AUB Medical Center, one of Lebanon's major health care centers. AUB was founded by American missionaries in 1866. The university is open to students of all races, nationalities, and religions.

Officers:
President: Peter Dorman
Acting Porvost: Waddah Nasr
VP, Finance: Imad Dayya

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Columbia Encyclopedia:

American University of Beirut

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American University of Beirut, at Beirut, Lebanon; English language; chartered by New York State in 1866 as Syrian Protestant College, rechartered 1920 as the American Univ. of Beirut. It has faculties of arts and sciences, health sciences, engineering and architecture, agricultural and food sciences, and medicine. There is an archaeological museum. The university remained operational during most of the protracted civil strife in Beirut. In 1990 it started a joint program of research and development with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the reconstruction of Lebanon.

Gale Encyclopedia of the Mideast & N. Africa:

American University of Beirut

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Prominent institution of higher education in Lebanon.

The American University of Beirut (AUB) was once the most famous university in the Middle East, if not in the entire African and Asian region. It was established as the Syrian Protestant College by the American Protestant Evangelical Mission to Syria in 1866. The AUB is run by a New York - based board of trustees, whose members are citizens of various countries. The university was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.

The arts and sciences faculty awards bachelor's and master's degrees; the faculty of medicine awards bachelor's and master's degrees in science, master's degrees in public health, and certificates in undergraduate nursing and basic laboratory techniques; the faculty of engineering and architecture awards bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering and bachelor's degrees in architecture; the faculty of agriculture and food sciences awards master's degrees in all departments, as well as doctorates in agronomy. English is the language of instruction except in courses within the department of Arabic.

Initially, most of the students at the university came from elite Christian families. But the university's reputation soon eliminated any sectarian label, and it attracted Arabs from various countries. Its admissions standards and tuition made it, and continue to make it, inaccessible to most students from lower income groups. However, the student body has become somewhat diversified through scholarships and grants.

Although the university took its Christian message seriously in the early years, to the point of dismissing a popular professor for daring to teach Darwinism, its curricula became secularized during the twentieth century - perhaps to reflect the religious diversity of the Lebanese population.

AUB's medical school has been one of its most important divisions, training generations of physicians who practice throughout the Middle East. It was, and to a degree it remains, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the region. The American University Hospital has become known as one of the best hospitals in the Middle East. The university has benefited from a relatively large endowment and from U.S. congressional support. The liberal atmosphere of Lebanon, at least before the Lebanese Civil War, allowed the university to attract scholars, faculty, and staff from the world's best educational institutions.

The AUB has been criticized by many thinkers and political activists, including such alumni as Dr. George Habash of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, for its U.S. associations. It was seen by some as a bastion of cultural pluralism, especially during the 1960s and 1970s, when the university administration responded firmly to student protests. For militant student leaders, the campus was considered no more than an espionage den and a recruiting center for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Yet militants and moderates, secularists and fundamentalists, all wanted to be admitted. A degree from AUB provided the best financial prospects; in fact, until the 1970s it almost always guaranteed a job for its holder. Political and economic changes in Lebanon, however, decreased its value, especially when some Lebanese could afford to attend far more prestigious foreign universities.

The AUB underwent tremendous changes because of the civil war (1975 - 1990). Despite extensive damage, it continued to function, even during repeated interruptions due to intense fighting. Some of its professors were threatened or kidnapped, and its president, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated in 1984 by unknown gunmen. Its main administrative building, College Hall, bombed in the early 1990s, has been reconstructed. The division of the city of Beirut into eastern and western zones affected the life of the campus community, which became more sharply divided along sectarian lines. The administration authorized the opening of an off-campus program in East Beirut during the war for those who could not reach predominantly Muslim West Beirut.

The quality and standards of the AUB have declined as a result of the war. Many foreign nationals on the faculty left, depriving students of some of the most qualified teachers. The flight of many Lebanese and Palestinian professors forced the administration to accept applicants who in previous times would have been considered underqualified. The shortage of professors in some departments led the administration to accept applicants with an M.A. as teachers, which was uncommon before the war.

The end of the civil war promised improvements at the university, and the restoration of peace and normalcy increased the number of professors returning from exile. The new president, Robert Haddad, formerly of Smith College, announced that his goal was to bring AUB back to its former level of excellence. Haddad was succeeded by John Waterbury in 1998, and he did much to improve the relationship between the administration and the faculty. Haddad had alienated the faculty by appearing to impose standards and procedures that many on the Beirut campus did not find suitable. Water-bury's tenure coincided with a deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon, and yet he remained committed to an ambitious fundraising campaign. Waterbury attracted professors from outside Lebanon, and from outside the Arab world, hoping to return AUB to its prewar days when faculty and students represented different cultures and religions. But the declining economic situation in Lebanon and the end of interest-free loans through the Hariri Foundation (formed in 1984 by Rafiq al-Hariri, who later became prime minister), has increased the percentage of upper-class students. Although financial aid exists, it is not sufficient to offset the higher cost of living and education in Lebanon. But AUB has benefited from the consequences of the 11
September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Many Arab students from the Gulf region began to avoid higher education in the United States, long a favored destination for Middle Eastern students, and sought to study in Lebanese universities, especially AUB. The high cost of AUB education, however, still deters some applicants, and selectivity has been sacrificed across the board. AUB has also suffered from the proliferation of private universities in Lebanon (some forty-seven by one count). Gulf Arab countries have also competed with AUB by opening up their own versions of American universities. In 2003 the American University of Kuwait was added to the list of American universities in the Middle East.

Bibliography

Coon, Carl, ed. Daniel Bliss and the Founding of the American University of Beirut. Washington, DC: Middle East Institute, 1989.

Penrose, Stephen. That They May Have Life: The Story of the American University of Beirut 1866 - 1941. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1970.

— AS'AD ABUKHALIL

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

American University of Beirut

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This article is about the American University of Beirut. For other uses, such as the Asia Universal Bank, see AUB (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 33°53′59.87″N 35°28′56.22″E / 33.8999639°N 35.4822833°E / 33.8999639; 35.4822833

American University of Beirut
الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت
Motto That they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Established 1866
Type Private
President Peter Fitzgerald Dorman
Provost Ahmad Dallal
Academic staff 653 full-time instructional faculty.[1]
Students 8,005
Undergraduates 6,431
Location Beirut, Lebanon
Campus Urban, 61-acre (250,000 m2); and AREC (Agricultural Research and Education Center), a 247-acre (1.00 km2) research farm and educational facility in the Beqa'a Valley
Website www.aub.edu.lb

The American University of Beirut (AUB; Arabic: الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت‎) is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866.[2] The name was changed to the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1920.

The university is ranked among the top 300 universities in the world.[3]

AUB is governed by a private, autonomous Board of Trustees and offers programs leading to Bachelor's, Master’s, MD, and PhD degrees. The current president is Peter Dorman.

Although AUB’s student body is primarily Lebanese, almost one-fifth of its students attended secondary school or university outside of Lebanon before coming to AUB. The language of instruction is English.

Contents

History

At the Main Gate

In 1862 American missionaries in Lebanon and Syria, under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, asked Daniel Bliss to establish a college of higher learning that would include medical training. On April 24, 1863, while Dr. Daniel Bliss was raising money for the new college in the United States and England, the State of New York granted a charter for the Syrian Protestant College. The college, which was renamed the American University of Beirut in 1920, opened with a class of 16 students on December 3, 1866. Dr. Bliss served as its first president, from 1866 until 1902.

AUB alumni have had a broad and significant impact on the region and the world for many years. For example, 19 AUB alumni were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 — more than any other university in the world. AUB graduates continue to serve in leadership positions as presidents of their countries, prime ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, presidents and deans of colleges and universities, businesspeople, engineers, doctors, teachers, and nurses. They work in governments, the private sector, and in nongovernmental organizations.

On March 21, 2008, the Board of Trustees selected Peter Dorman to be AUB's 15th president. He succeeded John Waterbury who was president of AUB from 1998 to 2008. Dorman is an international scholar in the field of Egyptology and formerly chaired the University of Chicago's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

As of June 2011, the total number of degrees and diplomas awarded totaled 82,032.

Campus

Part of the upper campus as seen from Penrose dormitory

The 61-acre (250,000 m2) AUB campus is on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on one side and bordering Bliss Street on the other.

Faculties and schools

  • Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences (FAFS)
  • Faculty of Arts & Sciences (FAS)
  • Faculty of Engineering & Architecture (FEA): Architecture, Computer & Communications Engineering, Electical & Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Graphic Design
  • Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS)
  • Faculty of Medicine (FM), including the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing (HSON)
  • Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB)

Research

In 2007, AUB reintroduced PhD programs and now offers six doctoral programs: Arab and Middle Eastern History, Arabic Language and Literature, Cell and Molecular Biology, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Theoretical Physics.

College Hall

Medical Center

The AUB Medical Center (AUBMC) is the private, not-for-profit teaching center of the Faculty of Medicine. AUBMC, which is accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCIA) on hospital accreditation, includes a 420-bed hospital and offers comprehensive tertiary/quaternary medical care and referral services in a wide range of specialties and medical, nursing and paramedical training programs at undergraduate and post-graduate level. Since 1905, AUB’s medical services have included a nursing school. In 2008, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) invited AUB’s Rafic Hariri School of Nursing to become a full member, making it the first member of the AACN outside the United States. The American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program awarded AUBMC its prestigious Magnet designation on June 23, 2009. AUBMC is the first healthcare institution in the Middle East and the third in the world outside the United States to receive this award.

University Museum

The Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut is the third oldest museum in the Near East with displays covering all periods of history. The museum also carries out archaeological research projects.

Libraries

American University Beirut (AUB).jpg

The AUB library system includes two main divisions:

University libraries

The university libraries include the Nami Jafet Memorial Library, the Engineering and Architecture Library and the Science and Agriculture Library. The Agricultural Research and Education Center (AREC) in the Beqa'a Valley also includes an annex to the Science and Agriculture Library.[4]

Saab Medical Library

The Saab Medical Library (SML) serves the AUB Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing, in addition to the entire AUB campus. It is ranked as a large size medical library.[5]

Although many library resources are accessible remotely from on and off campus, the libraries themselves are equipped with e-classrooms, computer labs, and wireless connectivity. Trained and experienced library staff conduct classes and workshops throughout the year to introduce and train users to take advantage of the libraries’ collections, information resources, and innovative technologies.

Fundraising

Looking northwest across the campus towards the Mediterranean Sea.

In October 2002, AUB launched a five-year $150 million fund raising campaign called the Campaign for Excellence to celebrate its 140th anniversary in 2006–07. The University raised more than $171 million during the campaign, which ended in December 2007, to upgrade its facilities, strengthen academic programs, enhance faculty recruitment, and increase its financial aid budget.

Accreditation

Degrees awarded by the American University of Beirut are officially registered with the Ministry of Higher Education in Lebanon and with the Board of Education in the State of New York. AUB was granted institutional accreditation in June 2004 by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The University’s accreditation was most recently reaffirmed in June 2009.

In September 2006, the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) acted to accredit the University’s Graduate Public Health Program in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). The AUB Graduate Public Health Program is the first CEPH accredited public health program outside the North American continent.

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited AUB’s Rafic Hariri School of Nursing for five years beginning October 13, 2007.

In April 2009, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) granted the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) initial accreditation. AACSB is the leading international accrediting agency for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. Less than five percent of business schools worldwide have earned AACSB International accreditation.[6] AUB's Olayan School of Business is the first business school in Lebanon and the second in the region to receive such accreditation.

The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture received accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) in July 2010, becoming the first university in Lebanon to receive such an accreditation. The accredited programs include the undergraduate BE degrees in civil engineering, computer and communications engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering.[7] The most important donor of FEA was Mohamad Nasser-Eddine (Major donation on the 2nd of June 2009)

The reconstructed College Hall at AUB

Notable alumni

Nineteen former AUB students were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945.[8] The most famous among them was Charles Malik, a Lebanese philosopher, diplomat and president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1958 to 1959.[9]

Selected list of alumni and former students

Listed alphabetically by last name

Afghanistan

  • Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (Former Minister of Finance, Presidential Candidate in 2009 Afghan Presidential Elections)
  • Yousef Pashtun (Minister of Urban Development, former Governor of Kandahar Province)

Bahrain

  • Yusuf Al Shirawi (Minister)
  • Ali Fakhro (Minister and first Bahraini medical doctor)
  • Abdulrahman Mohammed Jamsheer, Leading businessman and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security of the Shura Council in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Egypt

  • Sahar Sallab (businesswoman and former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry)

Iran

  • Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (The Guardian of the Baha'i faith)
  • Ali Akbar Salehi (Foreign Minister and former Head of the Iran Nuclear Agency)

Iraq

  • Abdul-Jabbar Abdullah (Scientist and academic, the second president of the University of Baghdad))
  • Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi (Minister of Communications)
  • Fadhil Al-Jamali (Prime Minister)
  • Adnan Al-Pachachi (Foreign Minister and President/Member of the Interim Ruling Council)
  • Khalil M. H. Al-Shamma' (Professor Of Banking And Finance, Vice President Of the Arab Academy for Banking And Financial Sciences, Chairman,Board Of Directors Of PCT Group )
  • Matti Aqrawi (Academic, the first president of the University of Baghdad)
  • Ali Al-Wardi (Anthropologist and social historian)
  • Taha Baqir (Archaeologist and scholar)
  • Zaha Hadid (Architect)
  • Saadun Hammadi (Prime Minister & Speaker)
  • Hafiz Jameel (Leading Arab poet)

Jordan

  • Hussein Fakhri Al-Khalidi (Prime Minister)
  • Suleyman Al-Nabulsi (Prime Minister)
  • Wasfi Al-Tall (Prime Minister)
  • Abdul Raouf Al-Rawabdeh (Prime Minister)
  • Rima Khalaf (Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and senior UN official)
  • Leila Najjar-Sharaf (Second woman Minister and current member of the Upper House "Majlis Al-A'yan")
  • Abdul Hamid Sharaf (Prime Minister)
  • Ahmad Touqan (Prime Minister)
  • Kadri Touqan (Foreign Minister and academic)
  • Umayya Touqan (Finance Minister, and former Governor of the Jordanian Central Bank)

Lebanon

Kuwait

  • Abdul Rahman Al-Awadhi (Minister)
  • Ahmad Al-Khatib (One of the earliest parliamentarians)
  • Rula Dashti (One of the first four women members of Parliament)
  • H.H. Sheikha Hassa Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah (President of Kuwaiti Business Women Committee since 1999)

Malaysia

  • Mohamad Noah bin Omar, First speaker of Malaysian Parliament (Dewan Rakyat), also the father-in-law of the second and third prime minister of Malaysia.

Palestinian Territories

Saudi Arabia

  • Badriya Al-Bishr (Writer)
  • Yaqoub Rasheed Ad-Dughaither (Historian)
  • Abdullah Jum'ah (Former President, Director, and CEO of Saudi Aramco)
  • Abdul Aziz Al-Mu'ammar - Special Royal Advisor during the reign of King Saud ibn Abdul Aziz (1953 - 1964)
  • Hayat S. Olayan (Businesswoman)
  • Hutham S. Olayan (Businesswoman and member of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut)
  • Farida Al-Sulayman (First Saudi woman medical doctor)

Sudan

  • Ismail al-Azhari (First President of independent Sudan)
  • Yusuf Badri (Founder of Al-Ahfad University, Sudan's first private university)

Syria

  • Nazim Al-Qudsi (President and Prime Minister)
  • Faris Al-Khoury (Prime Minister and Speaker of the House)
  • Mansour Al-Atrash (Head of the National Revolutionary Council 1965–1966)
  • Abdel Rahman Ash-Shahbandar (Physician, nationalist leader and minister)
  • Madani Al-Khiyami (Health Minister and physician)
  • Ghada Al Samman (Novelist and writer)
  • Omar Abu Rishah (Ambassador and poet)
  • Hassaan Mureiwid (Foreign Minister)
  • Costantine Zurayk (Academic and historian)

USA

See also

Portal icon Lebanon portal
Portal icon United States portal
Portal icon University portal

References

  1. ^ AUB.edu.lb
  2. ^ * "Rev. H.H. Jessup Dead,". New York Times. 1910-04-29. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00D10FF3E5417738DDDA00A94DC405B808DF1D3. 
  3. ^ [1]. Retrieved on 2011-09-21.
  4. ^ Home – Academics – Libraries. AUB. Retrieved on 2010-11-04.
  5. ^ Welcome to Saab Medical Library. Smlweb.aub.edu.lb (2010-04-19). Retrieved on 2010-11-04.
  6. ^ OSB joins ranks of 5 percent of business schools in the world with AACSB accreditation, AUB News Highlights (Official Press Release)
  7. ^ Undergraduate engineering degree programs receive internationally-recognized ABET accreditation, AUB News Highlights (Official Press Release)
  8. ^ News from ICTP 98 – Features – CAMS. Ictp.trieste.it (1999-01-15). Retrieved on 2010-11-04.
  9. ^ Glendon, M.A., 1999. Foundations of Human Rights: The Unfinished Business. American Journal of Jurisprudence, 44, pp. 1–14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_of_Beirut

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